"Look Hachi!" yelled Keimi, pointing at a shadow-laden figure in the distance. "It's Jinbei!" Keimi began waving at the figure excitedly. Hachi looked over at the figure and squinted. Sure enough, the former Shichibukai had finally returned after yet another long journey.
The octopus man cupped his hands to his mouth.
"Jinbei!" he shouted, "Let's have lunch together, eh? Just like old times!"
Jinbei gave him a thumbs-up in return, and shifted his baggage to his other shoulder.
A half hour later, Jinbei was chowing down on some fresh takoyaki, happily talking about his adventures.
"And the poor sea-kitten couldn't even find his way back home!" said Jinbei, finishing off yet another stick of Hachi's specialties.
"That sounds terrible!" said Keimi, pouring Jinbei some more tea.
"It was! Luckily everything turned out alright in the end, but it sure was a tricky situation."
"Er… Speaking of tricky situations, I kind of need a favour…" said Keimi, trailing off.
"Of course! How can I help?"
"Well, you see, it's Papug. We think he's missing!" said Keimi, bursting into tears.
"Oh dear!" said Jinbei, "Are you absolutely sure of it?"
"We haven't seen him in days, and he recently missed his own fashion show," said Hachi, handing Keimi some tissues.
"When was the last time you saw him?" asked Jinbei.
"Well, I was dropping him off at town hall," sniffed Keimi, "and he told me not to pick him up again, since he had some errands to run. This was about 2 days ago. Yesterday was his fashion show, and he wasn't in attendance."
"Has he contacted you at all since?"
"No," whimpered Keimi, a fresh burst of tears falling onto her cheeks.
"I'll do what I can," said Jinbei grimly, thanking Hachi for the food and walking out the door.
Jinbei started at the town hall. After all, it was the last place Papug had been seen. As he walked up the steps, he noticed something fluttering in the wind. A red piece of paper attached to a string that was tied around a column. He grabbed the paper, and examined it.
"If you want the starfish back, go to the concert hall," he read. 'Well they obviously don't know what they're dealing with' he smirked.
"Hi-yah!" screamed Jinbei, smashing the door down.
"SURPRISE!" yelled a group of people, jumping out of the shadows, "Happy Birthday!"
Jinbei froze in his karate pose, mortified. Papug walked up to him, laughing nervously.
"Well… It was a surprise, right?"
Zeff was tired of that stupid brat.
"Cheesecake, Sanji, it's only a freakin' CHEESECAKE!"
14 years old, and he couldn't even make a stinkin' cheesecake. The kid's 'cakes', if you could even call them that, were either too cheesy or too cakey. And the brat tried to be funny about it too, serving customers entire blocks of cheese.
"Forgive me oh Kami," muttered Zeff, "if this poor former-pirate returns to his murderous ways." Zeff had finally had enough. He'd decided to teach the rascal personally.
"Alright you little punk," said Zeff, "get your damn ingredients."
"For what?" asked Sanji, chewing on a toothpick and tapping his foot.
"WHAT DO YOU THINK?" roared the chef.
"Right, right," said Sanji, hurrying to the fridge, "cheesecake."
The boy returned with graham crumbs, butter, cream cheese, sugar, flour, vanilla, sour cream, and eggs.
"Preheat your oven, 325 Farenheit," grumbled Zeff.
Sanji turned the dials, and returned to his station.
"Good so far. Which isn't saying much. Get your pan out, idiot."
Sanji didn't protest. It would only have made things worst.
"Mix your butter and graham for the crust, and put it in the pan."
Sanji obliged.
"Oi! You're mixing too fast! Slow down, idiot!" Sanji slowed down mockingly, moving at an inch per minute rate.
"You gonna be stupid about this?" asked Zeff, punching the kid. "Put it in the pan now, dumbass, and throw it in the oven. 10 minutes." Sanji bit his lip in pain, and completed the task in earnest, as not to get beaten again.
"Mix the rest of your ingredients now; save the eggs."
Sanji tossed his ingredients into a large bowl, and began mixing.
"Alright, you can put in your eggs now."
Sanji cracked his eggs expertly, using only one hand, and added them to the mixture.
"Great. Get your crust, pour in your mixture, and refrigerate. I'll be taste-testing in an hour. Be ready by then," said Zeff, slinging a towel over his shoulder and walking out of the kitchen to his study.
An hour, a forkful of cake, and a string of cuss words later, Zeff gave up. Officially. Someone else would have to do the cheesecake. The brat was simply awful at it. Zeff sat down at his desk, and picked through several documents. The door creeped open, and Sanji walked in slowly. In the corner of Zeff's eye, he could see a small light was flickering near Sanji's hand.
"Please don't tell me you're smoking again," groaned Zeff.
"No, no," said Sanji, "Just…Here."
The brat set down a white platter, on which rested a golden yellow cheesecake. The light Zeff had seen was a small candle, set in the middle of the cake.
"No. Absolutely not. I've had enough of your-Mmph!" Sanji shoved a forkful of cake in his mouth.
"How's that, old geezer?" asked Sanji.
Zeff chewed on the cake, and slowly swallowed. It was perfect. The cake was fluffy, but just dense enough. The cheese was soft and sweet, like a grandmother's lullaby. If Zeff hadn't known better, he'd think that Sanji had been perfecting this one recipe his entire life.
"Good," said Zeff, wiping the crumbs from his mouth, "It's good."
A.N.: Ta-Da! Two more lovely paternal figures! I love Jinbei so much; my favourite scene in all of One Piece is the blood-transfusion scene in episode 568. The music, the animation, and the speech just gives me tingles every time! And Zeff is such a powerful parental figure. He and Sanji represent perfectly the love-hate relationship between teens and parents. I hope I did these two amazing characters justice! Reviews, Favourites, Subscriptions, and Requests are welcomed and much appreciated! See you tomorrow for Brook!